Improvement in apparatus for bunching brooms



D. VAN WICKLEN.

APPARATUS FOR B-UNCHING BROOMS.

Patented Jan.30,1877.

N. PETERS, FHOIKLLWHOGRAPMER. WASHINGTON n r UNITED STATES PATENT 'QFFICE.

gnANIEL VAN wIoKLEN, OF GREEN BAY, wISooNsIN, ASSIGNOB To HIM- SELF, FRANK LENZ, AND AUGUST BRAUNS, OF SAME PLAoE.

IMPROVEMENT IN APPARATUS FOR BUNCHING BROOMS- v Specification forming part of Letters Patent N0. 186,773, dated January 30, 1877; application filed November 11, 1876.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, DANIEL VAN WICK- LEN, of Green Bay, county of Brown, and State of Wisconsin, have invented a new and Improved Apparatus for Bunching Brooms,

of which the following is a specification:

Figure 1 is a top view of my improved apparatus. Fig. 2 is a side elevation. Fig. 3 is an end elevation in section on line as w in Fig. 2.

Similar letters of reference indicate corresponding part-s.

My invention consists of two adjustable needles projecting from a slotted bed-plate, and each provided with an eye, the lower part of which is V-shaped near their points or upper ends.

The object of the invention is to provide apparatus for rapidly tying brooms in packages or bunches suitable for market or transportation.

In the drawing, A is the bed-piece, which is slotted at a to receive the needles B, which are shouldered so as to rest upon the bedpiece and are provided with a threaded end, which is engaged by a thumb-nut, C, by which the needles are clamped in any desired position in the slot in the bed-piece. The bedpiece is provided with legs A, which support it in a horizontal position, and with a handle, b, by which the needles are withdrawn from the bunch of brooms. The needles B are elliptical in transverse section and taper from the bed-piece A toward the point. The longer diameter of the needles is arranged transversely in relation to the bed-piece and parallel with the splints of the brooms to be bunched.

Eyes 0 are formed in the needles near their points. The lower portion of each eye is V- shaped, so that it pinches or binds the thread or twine that is used in bunching the brooms as it is drawn into the lower part of the eye.

The operation of bunching' is as follows: The apparatus is placed upon a convenient support, and a piece of twine is placed through the eyes of the needles and allowed to form a loop between the needles. The first broom is placed upon both needles and crowded down; an equal number of brooms is placed upon each needle, and the one that completes the hunch is placed upon both needles and pressed down. The twine is drawn from the eyes of the needles and tied over the final broom in the bunch. The bunch of brooms is removed by grasping the apparatus by the handle and placing the brooms upon the floor and pressing them with the foot and withdrawing the needles by means of the handle.

The advantage gained by my invention is a great saving in time and labor in bunching brooms.

Having thus described my invention, I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent- The combination, with bed-piece slotted at a, of the needles B,-shouldered, threaded at one end, having V-shaped eye near the point, and povided with nuts 0, as and for the pur pose specified.

DANIEL VAN WIGKLEN.

Witnesses:

AUGUST BRAUNS, G. E. 'l. KYBER. 

